THE Philippine International Seafreight Forwarders Association (PISFA) is asking international carriers to follow the lead of one shipping line and scrap the container imbalance surcharge (CIS).
PISFA president Nelson Mendoza told PortCalls carriers can now afford to scrap surcharges implemented partly as a result of low cargo volumes since trade numbers have been going up recently.
Philippine imports posted a 30.3% increase in January to $4.261 billion from the same month last year, anchored on the resurgence of the global economy. Exports also grew more than 42% in the first two months of the year to $7.146 billion.
“Since Philippine cargo volume can now sustain operations of carriers, the CIS should then be removed… just like what Hapag-Lloyd did,” Mendoza said.
The German carrier stopped application of the CIS beginning last month.
“The problem with these extra charges is that they refuse to go away even if the very reason for their implementation has been resolved,” he added.
The other surcharges protested by PISFA are the container seal fee, detention charges on cancelled booking, container cleaning and washing charges, import cleaning charge, charges on lost equipment interchange report, additional bill of lading copies charge, seawaybill fee, late payment fee, telex release fee, late shipping instruction fee, amendment fee and container insurance charge.
PISFA, through the Port Users Confederation, recently sought government help to force shipping lines to go through public consultation before any new charges are applied. No decision on this issue has been made as of yet.
